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Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:10 am
by ThunderThruster
Dammit. Now I want an Alana figure for my Seaspray.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:52 am
by Sabrblade
Rated X wrote:Hell yeah !!! Sakamoto is back !!! Those last few cartoons couldn't have been him because his signature sleeze was missing.
But, there's none of that here either. Alana isn't drawn in any compromising or undignified depiction. She's just drawn as her normal self. Sakamoto's treating her with respect (well, with as much respect as the original cartoon's episode did, at least).

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:58 am
by Glarryg
It makes me smile that the transformation sound is rendered "Gigo-gago." Never noticed that before.

:D

Glarryg

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 1:00 pm
by Rodimus Knight
Once more I long for an English translation on the comics.
I actually tried ti use Googles Translate App, but it's really painful and I doubt think it's very accurate.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 2:30 pm
by Rated X
Sabrblade wrote:
Rated X wrote:Hell yeah !!! Sakamoto is back !!! Those last few cartoons couldn't have been him because his signature sleeze was missing.
But, there's none of that here either. Alana isn't drawn in any compromising or undignified depiction. She's just drawn as her normal self. Sakamoto's treating her with respect (well, with as much respect as the original cartoon's episode did, at least).


Ummmm....shes bent over practically twerking on top of seaspray. I thought you were from Florida homie?

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 2:36 pm
by Sabrblade
Rated X wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
Rated X wrote:Hell yeah !!! Sakamoto is back !!! Those last few cartoons couldn't have been him because his signature sleeze was missing.
But, there's none of that here either. Alana isn't drawn in any compromising or undignified depiction. She's just drawn as her normal self. Sakamoto's treating her with respect (well, with as much respect as the original cartoon's episode did, at least).


Ummmm....shes bent over practically twerking on top of seaspray. I thought you were from Florida homie?
He's a very tiny but speedy watercraft. She has to bend over to hold on to him and not fall off as he moves. She did the same in the episode itself.

Image

And don't mistake the rest of our state for Miami.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 2:43 pm
by Jelze Bunnycat
Sabrblade wrote:
Rated X wrote:Hell yeah !!! Sakamoto is back !!! Those last few cartoons couldn't have been him because his signature sleeze was missing.
But, there's none of that here either. Alana isn't drawn in any compromising or undignified depiction. She's just drawn as her normal self. Sakamoto's treating her with respect (well, with as much respect as the original cartoon's episode did, at least).


Page 2, top left panel. That's the only bit that could be remotely considered questionable. I'll leave the hook alone now.

Some interesting things:
- Tigerburn is still in Lione's body, but Lione seems to attempt to reject the former.
- The chariots make an appearance, and Tigerburn's is in fact the golden mailaway prize.
- Alana changing to a robotic form upon the touch of (special) water is tied to the G1 episode Sea Change. Apparently Seaspray shoots that very same water from the episode and it's the wish-granting quality of that water that allowed Lione to exorcise Tigerburn.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 10:25 pm
by fenrir72
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa the female human anatomy...........Eeeeeeeeeeew! :lol:

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 10:28 pm
by Jelze Bunnycat
fenrir72 wrote:Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa the female human anatomy...........Eeeeeeeeeeew! :lol:


Technically speaking she's not human, but Tlalakan (try saying that 3 times fast). She's humanoid however :P

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 10:29 pm
by Rated X
Sabrblade wrote:
Rated X wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
Rated X wrote:Hell yeah !!! Sakamoto is back !!! Those last few cartoons couldn't have been him because his signature sleeze was missing.
But, there's none of that here either. Alana isn't drawn in any compromising or undignified depiction. She's just drawn as her normal self. Sakamoto's treating her with respect (well, with as much respect as the original cartoon's episode did, at least).


Ummmm....shes bent over practically twerking on top of seaspray. I thought you were from Florida homie?
He's a very tiny but speedy watercraft. She has to bend over to hold on to him and not fall off as he moves. She did the same in the episode itself.

Image

And don't mistake the rest of our state for Miami.


Look at the difference between sunbows picture and sakamotos picture. On the sunbow shes sitting skirt down Sakamoto has her bending over, skirt ready to pop up and expose whatever is under there lol. I guess it takes a Miami boy to see the obvious intent. Uncle Luke would be proud. :D

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 12:49 am
by ZeroWolf
How many more of these are left now? Won't be long before the mangaka is finished drawing these (since he likes drawing girls maybe he would be better suited sticking to ecchi series instead)

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 12:57 am
by fenrir72
ZeroWolf wrote:How many more of these are left now? Won't be long before the mangaka is finished drawing these (since he likes drawing girls maybe he would be better suited sticking to ecchi series instead)


No different from what Marvel,DC and Image had been churning these past years( less cloth more skin ). Loli style aside (Sue is so kawaii), his mech designs, from the simplified ones in the manga and those in the boxes are kick azz awesome!

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 4:41 am
by Evil Eye
Putting aside the "M-muh icky fictional 2D girls!" argument, Sakamoto is an excellent artist, and a master of the lost art of "Having fun". I'd love to see an entirely original TF manga done by him rather than a pack-in comic. Especially if he got to make his own continuity with original designs.

Though I still maintain the ideal man to get to do a TF manga would be Kenichi Sonoda. Between his insane attention to detail, wonderful sense of style, impeccable artistic ability, love of FUN and huge amount of respect for his fans both in Japan and the West, he'd be an excellent candidate. Shame that AFAIK he's too busy/worn out to do much these days.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 5:00 am
by Michael Alex Kawa
I agree with both of the above comments that Sakamoto is a great artist, I would love for him to get an official on-going Transformers Manga. I also agree that his depiction of females is no worse then what Marvel or DC does, and as for the "under age" argument, have you seen how the "teenager" Starfire from DC is drawn and dressed, and she is just the tip of the iceberg.
Anyways getting off that subject, I really liked this comic/manga chapter since Sea Change was always a favorite episode of mines, and it is sad that these mini-manga/comics are coming to an end.
Also I agree that a Transformers manga drawn by Kenichi Sonoda would be the bomb, that is like one of the best ideas I have ever heard.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 5:16 am
by Burn
Marvel and DC have nothing on Zenescope, heck, they probably outdo Sakamoto.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 6:10 am
by ZeroWolf
Kenichi sonada...ah! The mangaka of gunsmith cats and riding bean. Thought the name was familiar. Also don't mistake my comment for "2d girl = bad" i just said I think his style would fit an ecchi series, then he could have free reign to go even more over the top! I mean have you seen to love ru?

Though what we really need is studio trigger to step in with another tf anime it's been twelve-thirteen years since transformers cybertron, it think it's over due them being allowed a cracking at it.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 6:17 am
by Evil Eye
(Massive essay on Sakamoto and the comics industry in general below)
The thing with Sakamoto is he's actually pretty tame in comparison to most "fanservicey" comic/manga artists (on both sides of the world). Most of his fanservice is played for comedy as much as anything, and at the very least makes anatomical sense, as opposed to some artists (Rob "What is a foot" Liefeld, Masami "Master of Mecha, Woeful at Women" Obari, etc) and when it doesn't it's usually done in a silly enough style that it doesn't stand out too much. And compared to other "ecchi" comics (regardless of global hemisphere) his stuff is borderline prudish. Look at the Gunsmith Cats manga (which is absolutely excellent but very sleazy, albeit intentionally as the series is set in 90s Chicago, is about crime and follows a cast of characters who range from scummy to psychotic) or on the other end of the scale of "actually good", Eiken.

Sure, he has drawn some pretty cringeworthy porn in his off time, but so has literally every comic artist ever. After all, David Willis/ItsWalky/The Wikifuhrer does a fair bit of truly ghastly porn and he's still a fandom darling. Though I have a feeling if he didn't run the wiki and if he wasn't surrounded by cronies in an echo chamber he'd be pretty universally hated, because seriously he is a lunatic.

I think the problem is that outside of Kiss Players (which went too far the other way), Transformers has been almost weirdly asexual, even in Japan- and most of the stuff that does have it in to any degree is pretty obscure. I don't even mean anything explicit or massively ecchi, but there's barely even any hints that romance exists in the Transformers franchise half the time, let alone anything remotely sexual- the result being that TF fans are often very oversensitive to such things from lack of exposure. Like, Sailor Moon is more risque than Transformers, and that was primarily a young girls' show! Outside of Kiss Players (because seriously that was weird) and the Legends manga (because that's been discussed to death already) there's very little in the way of even love themes, let alone fanservice. Off the top of my head, I can think of:
>Octane trying to tune in to "G-rated porn" in G1 for a few seconds
>The occasional sly innuendo in Beast Wars, and a few romantic relationships such as Silverbolt/Blackarachnia and Tigatron/Airrazor.
>Cain and Akira (was that his name?) from Zone being blatant fujoshi bait uh I mean, the first GLBT representation in the brand.
>BWII having the Scuba/Bighorn/Scylla triangle of hilarity.
>Thunderblast's tits in Cybertron.
>A fair bit of human "fanservice" in the movies (which barely counts as it's more or less generic teenage boy bait you'd see in any similar movie, and the Transformers themselves never show anything even remotely approaching personality romantic attraction or sexuality outside of Devastator's scrotum. Which to be fair, made me and my mother laugh quite a bit, even if only because of John Tuturro's line delivery.)
>Elita and Optimus in Animated, along with occasional very well disguised dirty jokes (more reasons Animated is the best cartoon ever).
>Whatever the hell is going on with IDW, which is less fanservice and more a mix of melodramatic angsty romance fangirl bait and "Look how progressive we are" virtue signalling.
>That one BotCon comic that Sakamoto helped with that upset the Tumblrites.

And...that's really about it. I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can recall off the top of my head. It sounds like a lot but when you consider the brand is 34 years old and made of countless continuities and sub-continuities by a variety of creators, it's pretty minuscule.

Now obviously fanservice and romantic or sexual themes don't automatically make something better (though they don't make it automatically worse either) but the relative dearth of it in the brand compared even to other kid's shows (and definitely to other anime/manga) would go some way to explaining why the fandom has such a knee-jerk reaction to its inclusion in Transformers media- that is, they're relatively unused to it and so even the tamest content raises eyebrows when in other fandoms it probably wouldn't even be noticed.

Now I'm not saying that what the world needs is for every Transformers series to become softcore porn, that would be very silly. But I for one would like to see more "proper" Transformers series, Japanese or Western, that actually features romantic themes and yes, even subtle hints of sexuality, preferably kept fairly tame if it's a kid's show, though obviously something made for more mature audiences could get away with more. Other shows on both sides of the globe have made cartoon or comic series (for kids and adults) that handle such themes maturely and tastefully, or in the case of "fanservice" at least do it in good humour or make it genuinely appealing. Why shouldn't Transformers? In the case of handling themes with care and respect, look at Cardcaptor Sakura, which is extremely kid-friendly and a lovely show but does handle more mature themes. On the other end of the spectrum, look at Animaniacs, which was positively filled with innuendo but was absolutely hilarious. And for a combination of both look at Sailor Moon, a timeless classic anyone can enjoy that includes mature, well-executed romance and tension, appealing characters and the occasional bit of ever so slightly ecchi (but no less funny) humour. And if a series about cute girls fighting monsters in sailor suit-themed ballet outfits can do it then by God, so can a series about robots that turn into cars.

TLDR: The Legends manga, whilst not exactly high art, isn't actually that bad, it's just that the Transformers fandom is possibly oversensitive to fanservice.


On topic, yeah Kenichi Sonoda is a goddamn good artist, and an absolute madman to boot. Also good to see someone else who actually knows Riding Bean exists, ZeroWolf. I need to watch it, I hear it makes the Gunsmith Cats OVA pale in comparison- and that was fantastic. Bubblegum Crisis is still my favourite thing of his though.

Who else would make for a good mangaka/creative director for Transformers (aside from Trigger/Imaishi because that's easy mode)? Mika Akitaka (the Galaxy Fraulein Yuna guy) would be pretty great IMO, he's a really good artist both for characters and machines.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 7:54 am
by Sabrblade
Seaspray comic summary - http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Legends_Comic:_Bonus_Edition_Vol._64

Having lost the war for Beast, Tigerburn returns to the Legends World with his Laser Beast army and attempts a conquest by using the Three Wise Ones' Water Gem to flood the world and turn the inhabitants into Laser Beasts. Rattrap demands to know why the losing side of the war keeps coming to his world, but Tigerburn's explanation, involving the Legends World's Beast Power, is interrupted by an attack from Seaspray and Alana. The Autobot explains that Tlalak is suffering from a major drought, so he and his girlfriend are seeking to restore the planet's water supply using the power of the Water Gem. A voice in Tigerburn's head encourages him to use the gem for benevolent purposes, but he tells it to shut up—as White Lune explains to a confused Chromedome, he's hearing the voice of Lione, whom he has merged with. Tigerburn proceeds to use his head mode to take control of Trypticon, transforming the giant dinosaur into a Laser Beast.

Alana wishes to join the battle and asks Seaspray to blast her with water from the Well of Transformation, turning her into a Transformer again, but the power of the water catches Tigerburn's attention and he grabs the water gun and dumps the contents on himself. That being the last of the well's water, Seaspray apologizes to Alana for causing her to be stuck with her robot body, though she doesn't mind as long as they're together and explains that since Tigerburn's body contains two minds, the water won't affect him the way he thinks it will. Indeed, the desires of Lione's heart overpower those of Tigerburn's and he is able to use the water's transformative properties to separate the Laser Beast from his body. The invaders retreat back to their own dimension, and Seaspray and Alana reflect that where the Laser Beasts' hearts are cold like machines, Lione's actions prove that while the Transformers have machine bodies, their hearts are true. Having recovered the Water Gem, they then discuss taking a vacation on Beast after restoring Tlalak and returning the gem to the Beastformers, leaving the singles Rattrap and Tigatron jealous and annoyed by the happy couple.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 8:36 am
by Rodimus Knight
ZeroWolf wrote:Kenichi sonada...ah! The mangaka of gunsmith cats and riding bean. Thought the name was familiar. Also don't mistake my comment for "2d girl = bad" i just said I think his style would fit an ecchi series, then he could have free reign to go even more over the top! I mean have you seen to love ru?

Though what we really need is studio trigger to step in with another tf anime it's been twelve-thirteen years since transformers cybertron, it think it's over due them being allowed a cracking at it.


Holy crap, I thought the names seemed familiar to, I just never made the connection. Now I really want these translated, and yeas, give him a transformers manga that gets translated here too.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 9:11 am
by ZeroWolf
Black Hat wrote:(Massive essay on Sakamoto and the comics industry in general below)
The thing with Sakamoto is he's actually pretty tame in comparison to most "fanservicey" comic/manga artists (on both sides of the world). Most of his fanservice is played for comedy as much as anything, and at the very least makes anatomical sense, as opposed to some artists (Rob "What is a foot" Liefeld, Masami "Master of Mecha, Woeful at Women" Obari, etc) and when it doesn't it's usually done in a silly enough style that it doesn't stand out too much. And compared to other "ecchi" comics (regardless of global hemisphere) his stuff is borderline prudish. Look at the Gunsmith Cats manga (which is absolutely excellent but very sleazy, albeit intentionally as the series is set in 90s Chicago, is about crime and follows a cast of characters who range from scummy to psychotic) or on the other end of the scale of "actually good", Eiken.

Sure, he has drawn some pretty cringeworthy porn in his off time, but so has literally every comic artist ever. After all, David Willis/ItsWalky/The Wikifuhrer does a fair bit of truly ghastly porn and he's still a fandom darling. Though I have a feeling if he didn't run the wiki and if he wasn't surrounded by cronies in an echo chamber he'd be pretty universally hated, because seriously he is a lunatic.

I think the problem is that outside of Kiss Players (which went too far the other way), Transformers has been almost weirdly asexual, even in Japan- and most of the stuff that does have it in to any degree is pretty obscure. I don't even mean anything explicit or massively ecchi, but there's barely even any hints that romance exists in the Transformers franchise half the time, let alone anything remotely sexual- the result being that TF fans are often very oversensitive to such things from lack of exposure. Like, Sailor Moon is more risque than Transformers, and that was primarily a young girls' show! Outside of Kiss Players (because seriously that was weird) and the Legends manga (because that's been discussed to death already) there's very little in the way of even love themes, let alone fanservice. Off the top of my head, I can think of:
>Octane trying to tune in to "G-rated porn" in G1 for a few seconds
>The occasional sly innuendo in Beast Wars, and a few romantic relationships such as Silverbolt/Blackarachnia and Tigatron/Airrazor.
>Cain and Akira (was that his name?) from Zone being blatant fujoshi bait uh I mean, the first GLBT representation in the brand.
>BWII having the Scuba/Bighorn/Scylla triangle of hilarity.
>Thunderblast's tits in Cybertron.
>A fair bit of human "fanservice" in the movies (which barely counts as it's more or less generic teenage boy bait you'd see in any similar movie, and the Transformers themselves never show anything even remotely approaching personality romantic attraction or sexuality outside of Devastator's scrotum. Which to be fair, made me and my mother laugh quite a bit, even if only because of John Tuturro's line delivery.)
>Elita and Optimus in Animated, along with occasional very well disguised dirty jokes (more reasons Animated is the best cartoon ever).
>Whatever the hell is going on with IDW, which is less fanservice and more a mix of melodramatic angsty romance fangirl bait and "Look how progressive we are" virtue signalling.
>That one BotCon comic that Sakamoto helped with that upset the Tumblrites.

And...that's really about it. I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can recall off the top of my head. It sounds like a lot but when you consider the brand is 34 years old and made of countless continuities and sub-continuities by a variety of creators, it's pretty minuscule.

Now obviously fanservice and romantic or sexual themes don't automatically make something better (though they don't make it automatically worse either) but the relative dearth of it in the brand compared even to other kid's shows (and definitely to other anime/manga) would go some way to explaining why the fandom has such a knee-jerk reaction to its inclusion in Transformers media- that is, they're relatively unused to it and so even the tamest content raises eyebrows when in other fandoms it probably wouldn't even be noticed.

Now I'm not saying that what the world needs is for every Transformers series to become softcore porn, that would be very silly. But I for one would like to see more "proper" Transformers series, Japanese or Western, that actually features romantic themes and yes, even subtle hints of sexuality, preferably kept fairly tame if it's a kid's show, though obviously something made for more mature audiences could get away with more. Other shows on both sides of the globe have made cartoon or comic series (for kids and adults) that handle such themes maturely and tastefully, or in the case of "fanservice" at least do it in good humour or make it genuinely appealing. Why shouldn't Transformers? In the case of handling themes with care and respect, look at Cardcaptor Sakura, which is extremely kid-friendly and a lovely show but does handle more mature themes. On the other end of the spectrum, look at Animaniacs, which was positively filled with innuendo but was absolutely hilarious. And for a combination of both look at Sailor Moon, a timeless classic anyone can enjoy that includes mature, well-executed romance and tension, appealing characters and the occasional bit of ever so slightly ecchi (but no less funny) humour. And if a series about cute girls fighting monsters in sailor suit-themed ballet outfits can do it then by God, so can a series about robots that turn into cars.

TLDR: The Legends manga, whilst not exactly high art, isn't actually that bad, it's just that the Transformers fandom is possibly oversensitive to fanservice.


On topic, yeah Kenichi Sonoda is a goddamn good artist, and an absolute madman to boot. Also good to see someone else who actually knows Riding Bean exists, ZeroWolf. I need to watch it, I hear it makes the Gunsmith Cats OVA pale in comparison- and that was fantastic. Bubblegum Crisis is still my favourite thing of his though.

Who else would make for a good mangaka/creative director for Transformers (aside from Trigger/Imaishi because that's easy mode)? Mika Akitaka (the Galaxy Fraulein Yuna guy) would be pretty great IMO, he's a really good artist both for characters and machines.

Very good post black hat, and yes riding bean is hilarious.

As for other artists/directors...I know he's better known for real robots but we could let yoshiyuki "kill'em all" tomino have fun ;-) the body count will assuredly be extremely high. Also remember that tomino cut his teeth on super robot shows.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 2:57 pm
by primalxconvoy
Apart from the usual, slightly objectifying images of females in this comic, this is hardly a return to the sexualized, or misogynistic depictions of females seen in earlier comics. It's hardly a "return to form", as some of the seemingly less cerebral comments have erroneously postulated.

The depiction of the female ("Alana") with Seaspray represents (rightly or wrongly) the G1 cartoon:

- http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Alana

As for comparing official work, such as the Legends comics, to other manga (and passing it off as "tamer"); that isn't relevant. Work such as the Legends manga are different, as they are official art, linked to a brand aimed at children. In the Legends manga, this media comes with a toy, and there is no way to know what content is in the manga until the toy is bought. Thus, comparisons to comics that are not sold that way have to be viewed in context. Also, the very fact that they are included with toys means that (hopefully) the "moral" standards are "higher" than other media, so using a comic aimed at adults, for example, to compare with a comic included in a toy for kids 15+ isn't always useful.

A Misguided Individual wrote:
Rated X wrote:Hell yeah !!! Sakamoto is back !!! Those last few cartoons couldn't have been him because his signature sleeze was missing.
But, there's none of that here either. Alana isn't drawn in any compromising or undignified depiction. She's just drawn as her normal self. Sakamoto's treating her with respect (well, with as much respect as the original cartoon's episode did, at least).


THIS.

ZeroWolf wrote:How many more of these are left now? Won't be long before the mangaka is finished drawing these (since he likes drawing girls maybe he would be better suited sticking to ecchi series instead)


THIS...kind of, but see above.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 2:59 pm
by Evil Eye
...Did you actually read what I posted or are you just reciting a pre-written copypasta you have on your computer reserved solely for this thread?

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:01 pm
by primalxconvoy
ZeroWolf wrote:How many more of these are left now? Won't be long before the mangaka is finished drawing these (since he likes drawing girls maybe he would be better suited sticking to ecchi series instead)


THIS.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:12 pm
by Burn
primalxconvoy wrote:It's hardly a "return to form", as some of the seemingly less cerebral amongst us here have erroneously stated.

Comments like this are not welcome on this site. You don't have to agree with people, but there is absolutely NO reason for you to insult them.

Re: Takara Legends Manga Thread

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:14 pm
by primalxconvoy
Burn wrote:
primalxconvoy wrote:It's hardly a "return to form", as some of the seemingly less cerebral amongst us here have erroneously stated.

Comments like this are not welcome on this site. You don't have to agree with people, but there is absolutely NO reason for you to insult them.


I wrote "seemingly". Thats not really an insult, is it? However, I will edit my original comment. Stand by...